The Senate Agriculture, Energy & Natural Resources Committee and the Commerce & Labor Committee heard testimony from experts on the crisis facing row crop farming (RCF) on Wednesday, Feb. 4.

After hearing from NFIB members in Orlinda, Primm Springs, and several parts of West Tennessee, NFIB and other business groups asked the committees to hear about the challenges farmers face and the opportunities to improve the outlook for Tennessee agriculture.

Agriculture Commissioner Andy Holt said drought-reduced yields and high input costs (fertilizer, seed, chemicals, and energy) have contributed to two years of losses in RCF. He noted that additional factors, such as trade and market pressures and capital-intensive operations and credit costs, have added additional pressure. He said losses in Tennessee in 2025 among cotton, soybeans, corn, and wheat/soybeans amounted to a staggering $192 million.

While federal aid is helping some, Holt said he is exploring ways Tennessee can help these farmers in the years ahead, including:

• Initiating the TN Roots Tour to gather more feedback from farmers and forest products producers statewide
• Increasing business development opportunities with various entities
• Working with the Farm Profitability Working Group, which includes the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation and other stakeholders

Specifically, he noted the following value-added solutions to strengthen agriculture’s overall outlook:

• Improving oil-crushing infrastructure
• Building large-scale beef processing
• Increasing low-value wood fiber utilization
• Expanding agricultural and forestry education at state fairgrounds

Holt said expanding access to international markets is key. He finished by noting immediate opportunities include investing in the Bunge Road Project in Dyer County because periodic flooding along the Mississippi River is a problem for getting row crops to market.

Stefan Maupin with the Tennessee Soybean Promotion Council agreed with Holt that the Bunge Project should be a high infrastructure priority because access to the river is often blocked. He then provided an excellent history of how the crop export industry has evolved and how market pressures have increased over time, noting the current geopolitical environment has accelerated the challenges.

“Things are just different now,” Maupin said. He emphasized that improvements to “road, rail, and river (access)” are essential.

You can watch Holt’s and Maupin’s testimonies here. Holt begins at 20:00; Maupin starts at 37:00.

NFIB thanks Agriculture Chair Shane Reeves and Commerce Chair Paul Bailey, both NFIB members, for convening the hearing.